REVEALED: Alabama dentist, 44, jailed for raping staff and patients was previously suspended from practicing after smacking employee on the behind

An Alabama dentist who has been sentenced to 180 years in prison for raping, sodomizing, and sexually abusing his staff and patients was previously suspended from practicing for sexual harassment.   

Joseph Clarence Cox, 44, was arrested in April 2021 following an investigation by the Gadsden Police Department, which revealed shocking abuse against eight members of his former staff and three patients from his dental office. 

However, even years before Cox opened his dental practice in Gadsden where the abuse occurred, the dentist had received complaints regarding sexual harassment and unwanted contact. 

A former employee at his dental office in Fort Payne, less than an hour drive from Gadsden, accused him of smacking her bottom in 2012. 

Cox plead guilty to three counts of harassment after appealing the case to circuit court, online records show. 

He was fined $500, sentenced to probation, and his dental license was suspended for six months for those offenses at the time. 

Joseph Clarence Cox, 44, has been sentenced to 180 years in prison for raping, sodomizing, and sexually abusing eight members of his former staff and three patients from his dental office

During the trial, a total of eight former employees and three patients testified to numerous incidents of sexual abuse, including rape, sodomy, and even sexual contact during dental procedures at his business (pictured) in Gadsden

During the trial in January, a total of eight former employees and three patients testified to numerous incidents of sexual abuse, including rape, sodomy, and sexual contact during dental procedures. 

The jury found Cox guilty of two counts of rape, two counts of sodomy, and eight counts of sexual abuse, ABC reported. 

Cox treated his place of business as his 'own personal playground' and showed zero respect for any woman who came to his office, Judge George Day said. 

Judge Day sentenced Cox to 25 years in prison for each count of rape and sodomy and 10 years for each count of sexual abuse.  He ordered those sentences to run consecutively.

Cox, who started the Gadsden Dental Clinic in 2017 was arrested after officers found a large employee turnover within his business between June 2020 and April 2021. 

Officers executed search warrants at both his home and the clinic on Rainbow Drive and took him into custody a week later. 

Cox was later released after paying a $100,000 bond. 

During the trial, his former employees testified that the large turnover at the Gadsden Dental Clinic was due to repeated incidents of sexual abuse by Cox. 

Years before he opened his dental practice in Gadsden, Cox had received complaints regarding sexual harassment and unwanted contact

Cox(pictured in January), who started the Gadsden Dental Clinic in 2017 was arrested after officers found a large employee turnover within his business between June 2020 and April 2021

Two former staff members stated that his behavior went beyond touching to rape and sodomy, with some incidents occurring during normal business hours. 

Patients were subjected to sexual contact during their dental procedures, according two of them who testified.

In court earlier this year, Judge Day ordered his sentences to be run consecutively, stating that it would not be justice for each of the victims if the sentences were concurrent.